GLASS BOTTLES - START

The picture traced onto the watercolor paper.

Sometimes I have a painting that “rattles around inside my head” for a while before I figure out how to paint it. This is one of those paintings, and it came together in the usual “round about” way.

The photo was taken a couple of years ago at Shaker Village in Kentucky in the gift shop. The glow of light from the window through the bottles is what prompted me to take the photo. Since then it has periodically popped into my head and I’ll try to decide what medium I want to use, and how to apply that medium.

Recently I had placed an order from an online source and, turns out that if I was willing to spend just a little bit more, I’d receive free shipping! Well, OF COURSE I would find some way to spend that little bit more, rather than waste it on shipping! I saw that the Dr. Ph. Martin’s acrylic inks (hereinafter referred to as DPM!!!) were on sale, and having seen them used during a program at Greater Cincinnati Watercolor Society.  I decided that was the extra item that would put me over the free shipping amount. Besides, it was something that I’ve thought of buying before, just never had.

And then - it dawned on me that I could paint the glass bottles with the DPM acrylic inks! Duh!

Using my “usual process” (as my one friend calls it) I found the photo and cropped it. I still wasn’t satisfied. My camera software is quite limited, but it has something called “cartoon” so I tried that and I really liked the effect. Now I was onto something!

After printing out the photo I placed it under my tracing paper and moved the bottles around a bit until I was more satisfied with the composition. Then, I traceed onto my watercolor paper. I decided to use hot press again, Fabriano Artistico #140. Since the subject has a lot of motion to it, I figured any blossoms would blend right in.